Can anyone tell me where the factory ground straps are located? I'm doing a custom build and it didn't have a motor so I don't know exactly where they were orginally. Also where did the negative on the battery go? Just want to try to get that back to the way it was orginally, Thanks!

Originally, the negative battery cable went to the alternator bracket. I relocated mine to one of the unused front motor mount bosses, next to the fuel pump. There was also a branch line that went to the battery cable end to the fender. As far as ground straps, just make sure you have the engine grounded to the chassis, as well as chassis to body. Also, make sure you have a good ground to the blower motor, as it sits in a plastic enclosure.

You can use 2 ground straps for your engine, and also run a #12 ground wire from the negative post terminal to the inner fender. (Some neg. battery post come with this #12 wire molded in to the terminal. Just use an extension with and "eye" connector and splice connector).

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this is how the grn strap is on my Elky...
First,the batt. ground inner fender well..
second,engine ground,BATT. to alt.
third,ground to body...
on "some" models, they will have a ground strap running between the frame and body... (NOT PICTURED)
hope this helps ya out..

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isnt one ground strap from the back of the passenger head to the firewall? as long as you have a ground between the batt cable to the block and a strap to the fender, block to firewall, and if you deem fit block to frame youll be fine.

running your main battery cable from the neg batt post straight to the engine somewhere is the best idea. i prefer to go under the long bolt the alternator hinges on going into the head because it serves a few functions: i know its grounded to the block, it looks cleaner and keeps the soldered eye on the end of the cable a little further away from the heat of the block ( thats why gm put it on the alt. bracket.).

Tell me if you guys think these ground connections I have are OK. Everything seems to work fine but I'm just curious.
My neg. cable has the small ground to the fender as Gilby pictureed but the neg. batt. cable is grounded to a bolt on top of the FRAME near the fuel pump instead of the alt. bracket. I then put another ground cable from that same frame bolt to the engine block.
Does anyone see anything wrong with this plan?

yes,you want the big cable on the block,why..?? because of the amprage the starter draws from the battery,if you put it on the frame,you will fry the little ground wire up because it can't handle the amprage from the Battery when you start the engine.and remember,everything sits on a rubber mounts,the engine frame and body,so, hook it up correctley and you won't have a meltdown..

Thanks for that info Gilby! I'm not disputing your word at all and I'm certainly no wiring guru but I just thought that since the battery cable that goes to the bolt on the frame is also the same bolt the cable from the engine block goes to it would almost be the same thing as running the battery cable to the block since those two cables are touching each other on the ends where they are both attached to the same bolt. Is that incorrect?
Its been this way for several months now and nothing has fried. Have I just been lucky or would this take quite some time to get things in a melt down state as you mentioned?

yes,you want the big cable on the block,why..?? because of the amprage the starter draws from the battery,if you put it on the frame,you will fry the little ground wire up because it can't handle the amprage from the Battery when you start the engine.and remember,everything sits on a rubber mounts,the engine frame and body,so, hook it up correctley and you won't have a meltdown..

Gilby has it right it comes down to resistance,the more resistance you have the higher the amperage draw,so you really want that ground on the engine for the starter.It also helps with sensors and alternator function.I'm not sure if they put it on the alternator bracket to avoid cable degeneration or more for ease of assembly since the cables haven't been soldered from the 40's or 50's and went to a mechanical crimp.
I have never seen a problem with too many grounds but have seen problems with improper placement and or use of the wrong gauge wire and not enough grounds because you have wiring harness grounds going to the frame and the body and sensors using the engine for ground so that gauges and computers can get the information that they need to operate.A good example of this is several postings on here where members removed the dash on 5th gens and forgot to reattach the ground to ebrake bracket and the gauge cluster doesn't work right.That doesn't mean a thousand ground straps are better because at a certain point more will not help it just becomes overkill.

I just thought that since the battery cable that goes to the bolt on the frame is also the same bolt the cable from the engine block goes to it would almost be the same thing as running the battery cable to the block since those two cables are touching each other on the ends where they are both attached to the same bolt. Is that incorrect?

Yes, that's correct, as long as both cables are of sufficient wire size and you have a good connection between them at the frame mounting point.

As far as resistance goes, having two cables in series might add a small fraction of an ohm. As long as you have no problem turning the starter over in cold weather, you'll be fine.

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